NC Housing Coalition Update

I am writing this from sunny New Bern where I am attending the Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthy Community Institute with NCHC Board Chair Helen McInnis and CHIN Director Hunter Thompson. It is a great event focusing on helping nonprofits with strategic planning, board development, financial management, and fundraising. I counted ten other organizations we work with in attendance, and we are looking forward to networking with them on local housing issues in their communities tonight at the reception.We are proud to announce that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation has chosen the NC Housing Coalition as its CommuniTies Award Recipient! This grant is unrestricted support to us to recognize our work as a coalition. We in turn will make three $10,000 unrestricted awards to member organizations of the Housing Coalition in recognition of their great work at the Annual Housing Conference in October. More details on this to come in a few weeks.

North Carolina Housing News
Congratulations again to all of the folks working with Congregations for Social Justice in Raleigh. As I noted two weeks ago, this group packed the Raleigh City Council chambers with over 175 people in support of having the Council approve an Affordable Housing Task Force in conjunction with the city’s Comprehensive Plan implementation. This week, the Council approved the creation of such a Task Force and we are excited to work with CSJ as they continue their advocacy for affordable housing in Raleigh by monitoring the Task Force’s formation and work.Also, congratulations to Amy Powell, Chatham Habitat for Humanity, Gregg Warren, DHIC, and the other members of the Chatham Co. Housing Task Force for their highly successful Housing Summit in Siler City last Friday. I moderated a terrific panel that included Beth McKee Huger, Greensboro Housing Coalition; Dawn Blobaum, Town of Davidson Planning; Joe Durham, Wake County Planning; Scott Dedman, Mountain Housing Opportunities; and Sally Green, Chapel Hill Town Council. The best part of the day was having the 100 or so attendees break into eight groups to identify top priorities for moving affordable housing forward in the County. These were then woven together to form four recommendations for the Task Force to present to the Chatham County Commissioners. We look forward to working with the Task Force and Chatham Housing Coalition as they push for more funding and policy changes in their county.

Foreclosure Scam Alert
There are many stories of owners facing foreclosure being taken advantage of by various foreclosure scams. If you or your organizations comes across anyone who has experienced such scams, please contact Al Ripley at the NC Justice Center (al(at)ncjustice.org or 919-856-2573). The Justice Center is interested in working on policy solutions to this problem and would like to get more information to better inform what changes are needed.

Campaign for Housing Carolina
We have had meetings with various state legislative leaders in the past two weeks in preparation for the upcoming legislative session, asking for their support for the NC Housing Trust Fund. So far our group includes Paul Stock, NC Bankers Association; Jill Cox, United Way of NC; Julia Leggett, Arc-NC; Bill Rowe, NC Justice Center; Rick Zechini, NC Realtors Association, along with Bob Kucab and other representatives from the NC Housing Finance Agency. Thanks to all of these folks for their work in support of getting more resources for affordable housing finance and production in NC.Our message has centered on the critical need for an expansion of recurring funding for the Housing Trust Fund as we face a national recession, a growing foreclosure crisis, and a mental health crisis that has left our most vulnerable residents without adequate housing. The reception has been very positive – though cautious about the amount of funding that will be available. I look forward to further meetings in the coming weeks. Of utmost importance to the success of the Campaign will be the contact you have with your legislator in support of the Housing Trust Fund as a local constituent. Find out who your legislators are and how to contact them here.

Federal Housing News
There is mixed news to report regarding Senate Bill 2636, which passed the Senate last week. The bill included the income targeting we advocated for: 25% of CDBG funds allocated (to buy and rehab already foreclosed properties) will be targeted to households at 30% and below area median income. However, the Senate rejected the proposal to let bankruptcy judges modify mortgages on primary residences to help financially distressed homeowners. As expected, the bankruptcy proposal was the most controversial in a series of amendments to the larger housing measure.

Also, the Center for Responsible Lending let us know that when the Senate passed the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 it was as House Bill H 3221, not S 2636. We do not why this was done. This bill provides some help, but not enough. It also has some less desirable provisions, but at least it is a continued platform for discussion. As Senator Dodd said yesterday, “…But this legislation falls short of its lofty title. It does not do enough to help the millions of American families facing foreclosure.”

Other Federal Housing News is available here from NLIHC and HAC on rural housing issues.To read the full Housing Update, click here. This will open an Adobe PDF document on our website.

Thanks again for being a member of the NC Housing Coalition,

Chris EstesExecutive Director